Gaels /Akwesane

The fleet footed Gaels bouyed once again by the stellar play of rookie goalie Joel Weber defeated an amazinly talented group of young men from akwesane tonight >The much bigger lightning couldnt catch some of the gaels quicker smaller players tonight and that resulted in the majority of the gaels scores on the night .The very talented lightning led by #8 Brandon Francis who,s outside shot is a thing to behold got in a hole ealy in the third when the Gaels scored twice in the first minute .This was without a doubt the best game played in Bowmanville this season,a game that featured very little funny business as the teams stuck to lacrosse .Refs Wiswell and Robinson kept the game under control for the most part ,not affecting the outcome on the night in any way .Next game in this exciting series goes tomorrow (SUN) at 2 pm in the friendly confines of the garnet Rickard Center ,come to Bowmanville early and check out some of the nice cafe,s and shopping available in this historic town .

Terrific exhibition of Jr.B lacrosse Saturday night as the Green Gaels edged Akwesasne 10-7. The summary was posted below so I won't bore you with little details.

Good pace the first period. Lightning struck early but after that struggled against an aggressive Gaels defence. Clarington pulled ahead 3-1 before the visitors rallied late to tie.

Second period was very interesting. Akwesasne grabbed the lead early stayed in front most of the period thanks to great goaltending from Daylan Adams. Gaels started sneaking a player out of the defensive end early(why don't more coaches do this?) and they created numerous breakaways, which they couldn't cash in on. This made for a helter skelter pace to the game with frantic end to end action. Finally the Gaels cashed in thanks to Jimmy Mumford. He had a partial breakaway, however the Akwesasne defender was right with him and appeared to have his stick covered if he took a shot. Then Mumford cut in front of the defender and beat Adams as he drove across the goal mouth. The period ended 6-5 Akwesasne.

Third period was all Gaels. The teams started four on four and Colin Baker struck twice in one minute to turn the game on its head. Later Dustin Morrison scored a strange goal. Morrison was outstanding dominating the draws all night but goal scoring doesn't seem to come naturally to him. He did outrun three Lightning players down the floor but stumbled head first as he reached the goal. The ball somehow found its own way into the net. It was catchup the rest of the night for Akwesasne and they never could get close enough. On the Green Gaels lone power play of the period Michael Calnan scored. On the Lightnings' lone man advantage the Gaels scored shorthanded. 10-7 final.

Overall a very exciting game, however it was also very sloppy at times. It seemed the players were using tennis racquets as the ball control was so poor. Akwesasne's power play extremely disappointing. They have loads of individual talent but they never did more then baby passes, which had no hope of getting the goalie out of position, then finally someone would wind up and shoot. They love to wind up and shoot! Two keys for the Gaels was they played more like a team and, not to be forgotten, Akwesasne was playing after a long bus ride. Clarington definately had a step on them the second period and two steps in the third. It will be interesting to see a fresh Lightning squad in action Sunday.

A word on the officiating...outstanding! I was seeing Wiswell(I remembered his name!) for the third straight game but Robinson for the first time. They called a terrific game. With all the things going on it was not an easy assignment, yet they managed like old pros. I especially liked the third period as they decided to let practically everything go. And there was loads of cheap stuff which could have been called both ways. To have done so would have bogged the game down terribly. Instead the referees let it all go and the contest flowed majestically to the end. John Herd was in attendance and I hope he saw the same game I saw. There are good, young refs out there. We don't have to have a steady dose of Gary Martin all the time.

One play the Lightning were on top of was board play on missed or intentionally missed shots. Or, as the shot clock wound down and they dropped a freebie, there was always a Lightning player to follow up on any rebound and they gained a fresh clock back on more than a few occasions. The Gaels will have to be careful of that or they are going to get burned on those plays. Conversely, the Gaels did the usual clock-winding-down freebie shot and turned back when they themselves could have gained possession of the ball on the rebound.

The Lightning are definitely the fastest team the Gaels have played all year and on several occasions the Gaels were simply outrun by speedy Lightning players. I think for the first two periods the Gaels were on their heels at times which led to some uncharacteristic sloppy passes. Must have been a interesting between period chat in the dressing room because the Gaels came out flying in the third and used their speed to advantage.

From where I was sitting, Dusty's goal was, as my son put it, "phenomenal!" Dustin is more known as the face-off guy and a bruiser D guy, but how he broke away from three Lightning on the left side was something to see! I am sure he was giving every last ounce of energy to get to the net and was rewarded. Nice goal Dusty!

On Baker's two to open the third, honourable mention goes to Steve Truzak for gaining possession on the face-offs and surviving the beating to get the ball to a man in the clear. On the second goal Steve was basically sitting on the floor with three Lightning defenders trying to whack the ball away and he kept his cool and got the ball out to the open man.

And yeah Paul, that was probably the best reffed game at Rickards all year. Let 'em play makes for a great game and that is what we saw. I am sure last night's game will still be the buzz when the whistle goes this aft at 2.

Good point on Akwesasne keeping possessions alive on missed shots. I enjoyed watching the Lightning players for their individual athleticism. So it really surprises me how uncreative their power play was. Maybe it was just an off night. We'll see today.